


He was so afraid.

by AngelicaR2



Series: Hansel's story [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Abandonment, Alternate Universe, Brother-Sister Relationships, Child Abandonment, Childhood Trauma, Episode Related, Episode s7e15 Sisterhood, Gen, Gretel's centric, Hansel and Gretel Elements, Introspection, One Shot, Past Abandonment, Past Violence, Revenge, Season/Series 07, Season/Series 07 Speculation, Speculation, Will of revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 11:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14212077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicaR2/pseuds/AngelicaR2
Summary: [7x15] : Gretel thinks about her past and what happened to her and her young brother. Brother-sister relationship. Abandonment. Childhood trauma & violence. Will of revenge.





	He was so afraid.

They were lost during this day.

 

They had been just abandoned by their parents, who couldn't let them live in their house, or they all would have died. They couldn't all survive, they just had not enough money for this.

 

So, they decided to make them go, and never saw their children after.

 

She didn't say it to Drizella, but all of this, destroyed her.

 

Not the abandonment, not only.

 

It was going far beyond that.

 

It was what happened next.

 

When they found this damn house all made in candies, and when they thought it would be the solution to their problem, while it had been their undoing.

 

When they acted like fools, as they didn't have any other choice.

 

Gretel was sure of this, she would never forget the blind look the witch gave to them.

 

Nor that she would forget her brother's look.

 

He was eight years old and she was twelve at that time, and they had been both terrified by this, but she had to be the brave one.

 

She was older than him, and she tried as much as she could to comfort him, despite the witch's presence.

 

They should have left the second they entered in the house, the second the witch talked to them.

 

But they couldn't, they were too hungry and they were starving, and almost ready to die.

 

They had no idea that to go in this place would almost kill them too.

 

So they entered, despite how suspicious Gretel could be, and the only reason why she accepted in the end, was because of Hansel's eyes, because of how pale he was, and also her own weakness, regarding how tired and hungry she was.

 

They were wandering in these woods since days, and hadn't she be so tired and desperate, she would have surely seen the witch's smirk.

 

(It's just after this “adventure” which almost killed them that she kind of realized how evil she had been, from the beginning, even before she let them enter.)

 

When the witch looked at them, without seeing him, but _perceiving_ them thanks to her magic (and oh, how terrible and frightening her look had been, Gretel thought all those years after that), they both became afraid.

 

She let them eat anything they wanted, despite the fact that they tried to steal from her, and this only thing was enough to frighten them as hell.

 

And her eyes, by the magic, _her eyes…_

 

It wasn't the fact that she was blind, oh no, it was worst.

 

It was her look of intense satisfaction that she was having while she was looking at them.

 

As if she knew it was the end for them, as if they were just her _prey_.

 

As if it was over, and that they wouldn't be able to escape from her.

 

(They proved her she was wrong, but it didn't erase what happened next.)

 

And it seemed to be, yeah, as the situation then turned into a true Hell.

 

Her brother had been locked up into a cage, and the witch asked her clean the room, while she was giving some food to Hansel, who looked at his sister with fear.

 

“What do you want from us ?” The little girl asked to the blind and evil woman.

 

She smiled to her, a terrible and frightening smile, which became worst with her look without any light in it, or even life.

 

She seemed to be dead, except at that precise moment, when she smiled with joy, thinking about her future meal.

 

“Well, that's simple, she answered to Gretel, looking at Hansel, who shivered. I'm going to eat you. Both of you.”

 

The siblings looked at each other, and Gretel slowly approached the cage, her brother still in there, trying not to be heard by the witch.

 

This one walked away from them, walking into her kitchen, preparing some things they surely didn't want to know.

 

“Gretel ? Her brother asked her. What are we going to do ?”

 

She looked at him, and she froze.

 

He seemed to be so little right now, so fragile, so innocent.

 

And, oh by the magic.

 

 _He was so afraid_.

 

And Gretel, in the deep of her heart, swore that she would never let her brother be that frightened again.

 

“We are going to escape from it little brother, she whispered to him. I promise you.”

 

He gave her a falsely confident smile, trying to get courage in order to support this.

 

Gretel didn't tell him how afraid she herself was, and how difficult it was for her to believe that this story would have a happy ending.

 

But, if she didn't believe it, how could her brother do it too ?

 

_§§§§_

 

Some days passed, and they stayed there, trapped in this terrible house. Apparently, they weren't enough consistent for the witch, and she was waiting for them to get some weight before she ate them, and both of the children were trying their best not to be eaten.

 

Fortunately, the witch was blind, and even her magic couldn't help her seeing that the children were trying to trick her (and succeeding).

 

But it didn't last, of course, for one reason.

 

The witch may be blind, but she wasn't stupid, and one day, she became fed up of this, wanting just to kill and eat these delicious children, and yes, Gretel was sure that she would never forget how brother's face, his emotions, his eyes, his _fear_ , when she chose him, and decided to eat him first.

 

When her brother's arms were put into the fire, he began to scream with both horror and pain, and this time, Gretel didn't even think of her fear, just thinking _not my brother, you witch_!

 

And, instinctively, she used her powers for the first time (not even knowing she had one) sending the blind and cannibalistic witch on the other side of the house, far from them, putting her brother out of the terrible fire that almost killed him.

 

He continued screaming, until Gretel succeeded to use her power again, and to heal the wounds.

 

But it didn't stop the pain, or the fear, and yes, she was reading it in her brother's eyes.

 

 _He was so afraid_.

 

And in pain too, destroyed, just as she herself was.

 

And the future witch had the conviction that it wasn't going to stop.

 

_§§§§_

 

They burned the house.

 

They burned it, after they took some candies with them, just in order to survive during their trip out of the forest, and yes, Gretel was almost sure of this, now she was going to be addicted to candies, after she ate only this for days.

 

They both were sure that the witch died this day, after all, her house was on fire, and she was supposed to be unconscious, and they didn't know magic enough at that time to know that her own helped her escaping from the place.

 

Years passed, and they went of separate ways, both full of anger and fear, one of them learning to fight and traveling between realms, and finding new friends, while the other one was trying to learn magic, in order not to be weak again.

 

Not to be threatened anymore, by anyone.

 

And for something else too.

 

The thing Gretel didn't say to Drizella, was that she didn't want to enter in the coven just to be a witch.

 

She was here for revenge.

 

Because the witch, _their_ witch, the blind witch, the one who tried to kill them, to eat them, _had been here_. She was in the coven, she was with them, and when she realized it, Gretel had been taken by hatred and fear, again.

 

The witch was still here, and hadn't been aware of who was just in front of her eyes, and Gretel would have wanted to laugh at her, to tell her that what she did to them didn't destroy them, but just made them stronger.

 

But it would have been a lie, because what she did put them in a lot of terrible pains and sufferings.

 

And now, she was going to pay for what she did, for her, for her brother, and all the other one that had been hurt by her.

 

And she realized she could destroy her, just as she was going to do with Drizella, a thing she didn't want to do, but the truth was that she had no other choice.

 

She had to revenge herself, and her brother.

 

And also stop the witch from committing other crimes.

 

She was going to have justice, after all these years where the siblings had been both haunted by nightmares of what happened. And during these nights, there was just her and him, trying to comfort each other, but who were all alone.

 

Alone together, yes, but with no one else.

 

So yes, her and her brother grew up, changed their name or not, tried to change and be stronger, indeed.

 

But here is the truth.

 

They never healed…


End file.
